INTERPOL is the world’s largest international police organization, with 190 member countries. Our role is to enable police around the world to work together to make the world a safer place. Our high-tech infrastructure of technical and operational support helps meet the growing challenges of fighting crime in the 21st century.

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Our global police communications channels and internationally recognized alert systems allow police around the world to share data instantly and securely. A 24-hour contact point and specialized teams provide targeted support to serious crime or disaster incidents.

Africa

Cape Verde

Cape Verde

Law enforcement services in Cape Verde are provided by a combination of police departments under the Ministry of Justice or Ministry of Interior:

Judicial Police: created in 1993, the Judicial Police is part of the Ministry of Justice and is responsible for preventing, detecting and investigating crime, with a special focus on serious organized crime and forensic expertise. INTERPOL Praia is part of the Judicial Police force;

National Police: part of the Ministry of Interior, the National Police is responsible for law and order and national security.
Structure:
- Public Order Police;
- Border Police;
- Customs Police;- Maritime Police.

One of the most important mandates for the Judicial Police is the fight against drug crime in all its forms. Positioned on the commercial and trafficking routes of three continents, the archipelago of over 4,000 square kilometers isolated in the Atlantic Ocean shares waters with several neighboring West African countries, making it an attractive transit point for cocaine bound for Europe and Asia from the Americas. Cape Verde police authorities take this concern very seriously and put maximum energy into crime prevention and investigation.

Cape Verde is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention, the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its three protocols and the UN Convention against Corruption.

INTERPOL Praia

Part of the Judicial Police’s International Cooperation Department and headed by the National Director who appoints a coordinator to supervise everyday INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB) activities, the Cape Verde NCB is staffed by two full-time Inspectors who provide the country’s cooperative law enforcement response for international investigations involving Cape Verde. The NCB is also responsible for international law enforcement protocol projects, analysis, and police foreign relations.

INTERPOL Praia provides domestic law enforcement agencies with a communications network linking them with police officials across INTERPOL’s 190 member countries, as well as direct access to INTERPOL's databases and police services. It is the point of contact for national investigations requiring international outreach.

When Cape Verde nationals are arrested abroad, enquiries regarding their identity and criminal history are addressed to the NCB, and the same procedure applies for foreign nationals arrested in Cape Verde. The NCB has a crucial role to play in warning border authorities about potential criminals so that they can monitor or prevent their entry.

One of the NCB Inspectors also plays the important role of INTERPOL National Security Officer (NSO). This involves responsibility for the physical security of INTERPOL’s secure global police communications network and the designation of Cape Verde law enforcement end-users. The nso is responsible for identifying and keeping under review a list of users authorized to work on the I-24/7 communication system within the NCB security perimeter and at authorized national law enforcement entities.

PRAIA, Cape Verde – INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble has met with the Prime Minister of Cape Verde as part of efforts to strengthen national and regional law enforcement cooperation via the world police body against transnational crime threats.During his first official visit to Cape Verde, Mr Noble’s talks with Prime Minister Jose Maria Neves, a...